Ebola Fight Hindered By Rumors And Bogus Cures Online

First the epidemic, now the snake oil. Fraudulent products claiming to fight the Ebola virus are being pushed to concerned US citizens online. More worryingly, West Africans are also turning to unproven treatments in their efforts to keep the virus at bay. There have been no reported cases of a person contracting Ebola in the US and the virus does not pose a significant risk there. Nevertheless, since the start of the outbreak, which has now claimed 1,229 lives across Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received "a handful" of consumer complaints about bogus therapies, the agency told New Scientist.